The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-10-15
Arabian Women.


women of ability, keen in insight,
and wonderful capabilities, writes
Florence M.Jones in the Swiss Cross.
The duties of the wife of Syrian to-
day are as follows:
She brings all the water for family
use from distant well. This is ac-
compIished by filling immense jars,
and bringing them upon her head.
She rises early. and goes to the hand.
mill of the village, carrying corn,
enough of which for the days bread.
she grinds by slow laborious pro-
cess. This she carries home and
cooks in an oven, which is made in
the earth. 1t is round hole, lin
ed with oval and fiat stones. and
heated by fire built in it. When
the bread is mixed with water and a
little salt, she removes the ashes and
plasters pats Of dough against the hot
stones TO cook. Could anything be
more crude? She cares for her chill
dron-usuaIly large family-and
does all the rough work at intervals,
while the husband calmly smokes his
"argelic," or sits cross legged upon
his divan, or house-top, in converse
with some equally hard working
member of Syrian society. The
houses are made of coarse stone,
roughly hewn. The house tops are
of clay, covered with coarse gravel.
In hot weather the sun bakes this
mud-formed roof, and large cracks
appear. The rain comes, and, as a
natural consequence, the roof leaks.
This is something of which the fas-
tidions inhabitant of the Bible Land
does not approve. 1t does not add to
his bodily comfort. He remedies the
difficulty-shall 1 tell you how
Not by any effort of his own; far
from it his wife comes, ascends the
heuse-t0p, and in the drenching rain,
proDels roller of solid stone, back
ward and forward, much as we use a
lawn mower. This roofs the sun .dri-
ed cracks together, and prevents the
entrance of water. Her reward is not
in this world surely. She cannot
speak to her husband in public she
can receive no caress before his rela.
tives or friends. She goes yelled and
scantily clad. She has no time to
make her own habiiments, for her
hands must weave and spin and EN-.
broider artisticalIy and abundantly
for the husband and male children
In winter her feet are protected only
by open wooden sandals, and drops
Of blood mark the way to the Syrian
we'll. OF course this is among the
lower and middle classes of society
in Syria, but those who belong to a
higher class are very few. The wealth
Of Syrian family is not in money,
but is estimated according to the
number of herds of camels, goats,
sheep and cattle it possesses. The
women are fond of ornaments, but
have little opportunity for it. They
always wear the "round tire like the
Inoon," spoken of in the bible. The
form is half moon. A single row
of silver coins overlapping one anoth
er, and seWed upon piece of coarse
material through single hole bored
in one side. is attached to square of
cloth, having long strings, which tie
under the black hair. This allows
the coins to rest in a curve about the
forehead. One of those tires, which
We had, weighed four pounds and six
ounces, and was worth $50. We now
have a child's tire, which weighs two
pounds. Oyer the round tire is worn
the heavy, hand-woven. linen veil,
The specimen we have is worth $50.
and is large enough for piano COW
er. All the silk for embroidery is
gathered by women from the silk
worms, and must be spun and dyed
before they can use it. If a mOtherin
Syria presents daughter to her hus-
band, he is bitterly disappointed.
When you ask Syrian parent. how
many children have you: if his fam
lily consists of five boys and six girls,
he will tell you, II have five chill
dren." They only count boys. This
seems bitterly cruel when the work
ers of Syria are of the other sex. The
girls are dark-eyed, raven. haired, of
olive complexion, and usually of me-
dium height, though some are ex-
tremely tall and muscular.
A clergyman in Carson, New, re-